Rattan Keswani

Mr. Rattan Keswani, the Executive Vice President of Oberoi Hotels and Resorts, is a graduate of the acclaimed Oberoi College of Learning and Development and has witnessed the company's gradual emergence as a leading provider of luxury hotels that prides itself on offering impeccable levels of service.

'We currently have properties, and Nile cruisers, in Egypt as well as hotels in Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Mauritius. This is in addition to the 21 properties we maintain in India, our main market. We have two brands, the Oberoi Hotels and Resorts, which are luxury offerings and the Trident Hilton Hotels, which are superior first class international hotels.'

EIH Limited, the Oberoi's parent company, owns both brands and in 2003 it established the strategic alliance for the Trident Hotels with Hilton International which now covers properties in eight Indian cities, including Mumbai and Chennai. But the group is continually looking to expand its portfolio and it has recently earmarked strengthening its foothold in the Middle East.

'Last summer we revealed plans to manage a new hotel at the entrance to Dubai's Business Bay, near the Sheikh Zayed Road. The property will have 250 rooms, as well as 40 furnished apartments, on completion.'

Trade between India and the GCC is increasing all the time and earlier this month Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, the UAE's Minister of Economy, said trade between the GCC and India now stood at $15 billion. Do Arab visitors make up a large contingent of the Oberoi's business?

'There has always been a strong affiliation between the Arab world and India of course, but right now most of our guests tend to come from the US, the UK and France, with South East Asian countries like Japan and Singapore also featuring heavily.'

Is the group also now looking to increase its number of properties in India?

'There is an undoubted need for more hotel rooms right across India but the main problem is finding suitable land. Even when land becomes available, it is incredibly expensive and that makes it hard to justify the investment. The inflated costs would have to be pushed on to the room rates and then this would subsequently impact on capacity levels.'

The rise in land prices is perhaps a by-product of the rapid development of the Indian economy which, according to the latest Goldman Sachs report, is slated to grow at a robust rate of 8 per cent per annum until 2020, overtaking the UK as the world's fifth biggest economy along the way. Mr. Keswani sees stability as a key factor in achieving this growth.

'India's growth, like that of all nations, depends on peace and security in the first instance. But we have a largely self sustaining market here and this will be attractive to potential investors. In the next ten years, statistics suggest India will also have the world's youngest spending population too.'

But Mr. Keswani is aware that infrastructure improvements also need to move forwards alongside the economy. It is widely thought India needs somewhere in the region of $150 billion worth of investment in its infrastructure inside the next ten years.

'The only major limitation to growth is if the infrastructure doesn't actually keep pace. Right now the airports need expansion, our road network needs to grow, as does the power and water sector. A huge amount of FDI is needed for this and at the moment too many large-scale projects also take too long to complete.

'In the past couple of years or so, six internal airlines have established operations in the country, which is very encouraging progress, and the improved intra-city connectivity certainly benefits hotel groups like the Oberoi of course, but more runways are required and more airports need to be built to cope with the boom.

'But assuming the external investment appears, then the necessary improvements will be achieved and this will boost the entire hospitality sector as a consequence.'